Chronicles of an Affiliate: Week 1 - Rob Peter to Pay Paul
That's right. I've been robbing myself of sleep to pay for my dreams! This week has been a bootcamp FO' REAL! Lol, no seriously. I never approached this program thinking it would be a stroll through the marigolds, but I certainly didn't anticipate 13-14 hour days/nights. Now some of that has been interwoven with schoolwork but still--baby girl is tired. So let's see what I've accomplished:
- Completed THROUGH Certification Course 2
- Purchased 2 domains, started 2 websites
- Wrote a total of 9 articles (if you include "About" and "Home" pages)
- Had my 1st StreetArticles piece accepted on the 1st attempt
- Brainstormed & recorded content topics for the next yr (at a rate of 1 article/wk)
- Oh and I managed to bake a cream cheese pound cake (from scratch) this evening
Umm...yeah that's all I can think of at the moment. I'd love to say that after reading that list I'm pumped. (That poundcake WAS pretty delicious.) But alas, I cannot. I don't know if it's because I don't know what to expect or look for but I feel like my sites are SEVERELY LACKING in appeal! I wish there was a way I knew how to get more concise info on fine tuning the aesthetics of your site when you lack content quantity. There are tons of individual discussions and whatnot out there, I just have no idea where to start. It's like trying to find a penny in mud (if that makes any sense.) Maybe that shouldn't be my focus? What I took the time to focus on today and will continue to focus on before proceeding to Course 3 is the concept of backlinks and actually sending people to my sites. I have ZERO back links in any of the articles I have written thus far; not because there is nothing relevant to link to, but because I don't feel like my site is ready. Well that and I'm just not sure I understand the methodology.
Oh and you know i've discovered something interesting about myself through all of this: I'm incredibly self conscious about my work! Like, seriously. I would love to post links and invite you guys' feedback but for the life of me I can't get up the nerve to do that! Shh..don't tell the other 100,000 members ;)
I know this was a bit lengthy but if you stuck in here for the entirety of my musings and can assist in some of the things I'm unsure about, please leave me your comments below!
Recent Comments
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Wow! Those are some serious hours. Go get it girl!! All that work is going to pay off in the end. Then you can celebrate with a Triple Decker Heath Bar cake! (One of my friend's specialties!!!)
Wow that sounds nice, I've never heard of it...is it her own recipe? Just curious--maybe she should join her and make a niche around delectable desserts!
Yes. I tell her she should start a family restaurant. It was very simple. I think it was 3 layers of chocolate cake. She would crunch up the health bar and sprinkle it in between the layers. Then she used cool whip for the frosting. And then she lined the rim with marachino cherries. Unbelievable! I'm not the best baker. So mine never comes out like the original = (
Hey girlfriend, almost made that pound cake but need another 8 oz of the cheese so made a dump cake instead. Yum.
Kudos to your progress. Now settle down and get a bit more sleep and see how your sites look in analytics. Put backlinks in the search bar up top, there are many articles to help you. Email, to the same, think Kyle has a good one and so many others too.
PM me your URL. Will be glad to see how I can help. Am shy too, but have selected certain followers who I know can help me. You will never know until you ask. You already know what you can do and just believe you can do more.^_~
Hey Caylynn, thanks for the feedback--and the dump cake reminder ;) I'll send you the urls right now. To the point about adding the backlinks, I kind of get how to do it now but why don't you view it and then advise how to incorporate them. Thanks!
I love the way you write you always know exactly who you are...; O) You really are amazing on how much you had got done. great job.
Hi Brooke. you have done an amazing amount of work, I haven't got through anything like that amount yet but don't overdo it or you will burnout before you start to see results.
The important thing to remember is the website is never finished, you can and will always be tweaking it but don't change too much too quickly before you know it has had a chance to work.
Don't be afraid of asking for opinions, after all you want this website to be seen by as many people as possible and although it helps if you are self-critical, you will never view the website exactly as other people will.
A lot of people have posted their efforts on the site, I always take a look if I have the time. I have not seen a poor effort by anybody and some of the results have been fantastic - take a look at what DanaB has done!
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/danab/blog
We all want to see your work because everybody will have different ideas, tips and tricks to suggest and just one might make a major difference. That way we help and inspire each other so we just get better and better.
You know what, you're right on all points you've made. I actually took it much easier yesterday because I thought about wanting to avoid burnout. Unfortunately, even when I'm not working, I'm thinking about working. That much is hard to avoid.
The other thing is that time is not on my side. I'm taking one summer class now which I can manage but in the fall I'm going back full time and expecting my 2nd baby in November. I'd love to have a routine and flow going before school starts again so that I can gauge what I can/can't handle. Personally I like my to have an outline of my schedule drafted in advance.
To the point on sharing: you're absolutely right. I should share and then maybe I could get some tips on how to actually effectively LINK! I don't even know how/when to use my affiliate link or what how many affiliate links I have for that matter...
Hey, I'm 53 - you have a ton of time but you will waste a lot if you rush it too much. We all want to make it work as fast as possible but it is more important to get it right and understand how to do everything as it should be done, otherwise it will not work.
Great blog! I can relate to what you are going through as I have not put up a link to my site either lol. I am still working on my sites and fine tuning them too. I'm cheering for ya and I am looking towards your next blog. My advice to you is read my Success is easy blog as it addresses your concerns. Best of luck although with how hard you work, you will not need luck :)
- Scott
Oh wow, thanks for the words of encouragement, Scott! I'm about to search for that "success is easy" blog right now :)
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Ok I know I'm late to this party but I will tell ya this. It does not matter if you feel your site is ready for backlinks or not. Truth be told we will always see a problem with what we created and feel that it's never quite ready so why not just do it. I looked at your site Brooke and I know this blog was a couple of weeks ago but link up doll. The longer you wait the more potential traffic you lose to other sites. You can always develop the content and flow as you go. I think I put too much time into the aesthetics of my site and I think it looks good now........but I kid you not, I change something everyday because I think of a better way to do it....from a visitors point of view. Just my 3 cents *shrugs*.
Thanks for your feedback regardless of when it arrives :) I've started linking but have been slack on writing for 3rd parties like StreetArticles...I've done a few but I'm gonna step it up as time permits.